Chapter 399) Surreal

Del Sol Valley
Starlight Accolades Gala Hall

Nervously, Sophie gathered the front of her floor-length shiny green evening gown to go up the stairs to the entrance, where two burly men in black suits checked invites. While she mentally reveled on how wonderful the fabric of the exquisite garment felt as it was hugging her body like liquid gold, she tried not to panic and hoped Hailey was right about being able to get her in.

Sophie felt scared and naked, when one of the security guards measured her up, after Hailey and Maddie presented their official invitations to them, but with a well-trained smile the guard wished them all an enjoyable evening. Sophie nearly audibly let out a sigh of relief. The moment she followed Hailey and Maddie through the lustrous glass and ironwork doors she was rendered breathless. The gala hall was more than impressive from the outside but was blinding inside for luxury.

Naturally she had seen the Starlight Accolades Gala Hall many times before on TV when watching the award shows, but it never looked even close to the splendor of what it was like seeing it in person. The gala room was sprawling and decadent and oozing importance and exclusivity, making Sophie feel like an imposter for being here at all.

Looking around the room she saw a lot of famous faces rubbing elbows, schmoozing, and then one face she recognized more than any of the others. Stryker! Ba-BA-BOOM-Boom, her heart went.

He was staring at her too, then the curious look on his face gave way to one of surprised recognition and a smile, as he raised his hand for a casual wave before he hurried over to them.

“WOW! I admit, I didn’t recognize you right away. You look … amazing. Out of this world gorgeous. Absolutely stunning.” he kissed her.

“Thank you. All credit for this goes to my amazing stylists again, Maddie and Hailey are magicians. One of Chase’s cousins designs fashion and owns a boutique, and she tailored this entire outfit to my body to wear tonight, her name is Leeora Levesque, and she gave it to me for free, all she wanted is for me to bake her a few cakes for her daughter’s birthday party – can you believe it? Ha, that little girl better have a lot of friends, she will drown in pastries! You look great too, by the way, but then again, you always do.” Sophie blushed and looked away, her eyes met Hailey and Maddie’s who waved back at her, smiling, before joining their husbands. Normally, they would have all arrived together, but 2Dark 2C and Stryke 3 were going to have a live performance later and had to go in ahead of time for mic checks, position tests and final trial runs. Stryke 3 had just arrived in town hours earlier straight from their latest performance on their tour and they would fly back out to resume to tour the next day.

“Come on, let’s go sit. Want something to eat?”

“Oh boy, I could never get a thing down now. I think I am more nervous than you.” Sophie told him as he led her to the table where the two other guys from the band and their significant others were already seated.

“Well, stage fright will come. It always does, never fails.” Stryker smiled.

They sat with the others, talked, laughed, until the award show started. Hours of honoring celebrities from various categories, clapping, listening to clever acceptance speeches, funny ones, emotional ones, until finally their music genre came up. ViVa received another award, as did Blaine, 2Dark 2C … all the usual suspects. The Who-is-Who of the entertainment business. As amazing as being here was, Sophie still felt like a stowaway.

Just before the break for musical entertainment was announced, 2Dark 2C and Stryke 3 went on stage, their show was well-received with standing ovations. Some other acts followed. By the time the boys were back in their seats, the award show resumed.

Then the announcer called out the next winners in the ‘fresh’ category for up-and-coming talent. By name they called each of the guys from Stryke 3, after a moment of shock, Styker jumped up, pulled Sophie up and kissed her, right there for all to see. She could almost hear her family cheering all the way from Windenburg, as they were all probably huddled around the TV at the Cameron Estate, trying to spot Sophie in the audience. Her heart was beating so hard that she seriously worried about passing out.
Proudly, she watched the boys being congratulated by the host, Stryker as the front man was handed the award and delivered the speech. An emotional one, and yes, he mentioned Sophie and his son Spencer as his guiding lights.

Some more winners were announced, at this point nobody at this table paid any more attention, they cheered and toasted to each other with champagne. Blaine showed up to congratulate them briefly, as did the 2Dark 2C guys and even ViVa. Sophie’s head was spinning from the excitement and the bubbly. She hasn’t had any alcohol since back when she first suspected she was pregnant and now since giving birth as she was breast-feeding, but tonight she made an exception. She remembered dancing with Stryker, briefly with Drake and even Blaine for a moment. Then Stryker took her hand and went outside with her through a side door.

Standing on the famous Walk of Fame, the late-night air felt fresh, the breeze balmy, and the lights of the big city skyline in the distance looked surreal.

Stryker pulled up her hand and kissed it. Sophie felt like one of the women in the old movies she loved to so much.

“The hotel we are staying at for the night is right there.” he said, pointing at a large hotel, clearly as exclusive and exquisite as the Starlight Accolade Gala Hall, one night there probably cost as much as Sophie made a month, but his true question was clearly implied.

Once more Sophie’s heart was racing hard. Should she? Well, of course she should! Duh!

She nodded at him, he took her hand, and they went. It was nice, the walk, hand-in-hand as a couple. She, the disablingly shy small-town girl, right here in the city of dreams, after just attending a prestigious invite-only exclusive creme de la cream event that put Stryker’s band on the map for sure now. Now this incredibly handsome freshly baked superstar band front man and she were on the way to his hotel to … insane. Absolutely surreal.

The hotel was crazy fancy, the elevator right up to one of he higher floors surprisingly speedy, the walk down the thickly carpeted hallway to Stryker’s room as thrilling as it was nerve-wrecking. This was happening!

The beep of him swiping the key card accelerated her heartbeat again, she followed him inside, watched him lock and deadbolt the door. He noticed and smirked.

“Don’t look at me as if I were some weirdo rapist, Soph. You can unlock it if it makes you feel better. I just want privacy for us.” Stryker snickered.

She looked around the room, out the window at the amazing skyline and the incredibly prestigious Starlight Accolade Gala Hall was right across the street. They had just come from there. Stryker was now a legit, world-famous celebrity. Holy crap! It all felt like a dream. So … surreal.

Just like feeling his hands on her shoulders, gently brushing down her arms, as he trailed kisses down her neck. It felt amazing to Sophie. Like a dream. Like those movies she loved so much.

She turned around to him, facing him and they kissed. Several times, with increasing passion. Funny how easy this flows, she thought, having worried about this exact moment, about being too stiff and not knowing what to do. The worries had been in vain, it just automatically progressed smoothly and incredibly sensual.

“Soph, is it safe? Are you ready for … more?”

“Yeah. Doctor said I am healed enough. And I am ready. I want this.”

Kissing her continuously, he undid the zipper of her beautiful dress, she felt the strange sensation of his kisses, his hot breath mix with the coolness of the fabric sliding down her curves as if hands were caressing her. She pulled off her gloves and tossed them to the ground, then pulled the beautiful comb from her hair, shaking it loose as she had always seen them do it in the movies, hoping she looked as sexy doing it as those girls always did.

He stopped and stepped back, glancing over her body, making her nervous. She tried of cover herself up, but he took her hands and kissed them.

“Come here.” he pulled her to the bed, the kissing resumed and for the second time in her life he picked her up, carried her to the bed where he placed her down gently into obscenely soft bedding.

“Don’t ever hide. You are beautiful. Just the way you are.” he spoke with sincerity.

Those words made all the difference. She unfroze and nearly jumped at him, kissing him hard. God, this had to be a dream. No way this was real. Any of this. Sure felt real.

When Stryker felt they had enough foreplay, he simply grabbed Sophie’s hips and flipped them over. The moment he lowered himself atop her, she could have sworn the first time never felt like this.

After they finished, they continued making out and before you knew it, they were at it again. Once that time ended, they found themselves on the floor, cuddled up together, his strong arm holding her so tight against his body.

This was … everything to Sophie.

The entire night both spent making love and resting, again and again, a million different ways, one more pleasurable than the next, interrupted by drinking wine – Sophie normally didn’t drink, because she was breastfeeding, but really didn’t care now, she wanted this, ALL of this, every last bit of it.

When they both started getting tired, it was already starting to get light out again, they snuggled together on the bed, kissing, cuddling. To Sophie, this was heaven on earth. Everything she ever dared dream of and more.

The next morning, she woke up with the sun shining into the hotel room. Quickly she looked up, but relaxed when she found Stryker looking up at her, drowsily.

“Morning.” he smiled, then huffed when he propped himself up to look at the clock.

“Morning.” Sophie smiled.

“Oh, dammit I needed to be dressed and ready by now. Guess we wore each other out. I need to get into the shower. Care to join me?” he winked.

Sophie nodded, smiling giddily. Yes! More please!

Naturally, the shower wasn’t just a shower and by the time both came out, someone was knocking down the door. Stryker answered, Sophie watched him, admired how incredibly sexy he looked wearing nothing by a towel wrapped around his slender hips.

“I gotta get dressed. Plane leaves in 2 hours. I need to get packed and head to the lobby, I was gonna meet the guys there in 5 minutes. Is Hailey picking you up?”

It hurt a little how abruptly this was ending. He seemed all business now, she nodded and reached for her phone to text Hailey that she was ready, he smiled and disappeared in the bathroom. When he surfaced moments later, he was dressed and picking up his things to stuff them in his bag. Sophie realized she was still wearing his shirt from last night, pulled it over her head and tossed it at him, he caught is smoothly, smiling he stuffed it into his bag and zipped it.

Somehow the ending felt harsh compared to the dream she had lived all night with him, Sophie thought while putting on the beautiful gown again, which now made her feel cheap in the morning light, rather than the princess she felt like yesterday.

Hailey arrived, knocked, entered while a fully dressed, all ready for business Stryker walked out. One last kiss for Sophie, a smile and grateful nod at Hailey, and Stryker walked down the long hallway, dragging his luggage, never turning around again. Sophie would have loved to see him off to the car that was already waiting now with his band members in it, but Hailey needed the privacy of their room to port her back to Windenburg without cameras witnessing it.

“How was it? Silly question, you are positively glowing, Sophie!” Hailey smiled.

“It was … surreal.”